Chat #08 - Laura Anthony Siragher
"Something made is often better than something dreamt"
Laura Anthony Siragher is a graphic designer, illustrator and artist based in the north of England. His ever evolving personal work covers digital and traditional mediums and plays with both internal narratives and outward storytelling. His Instagram is l.a.siragher
22/10/2025, 20:33 - Finbarre:
Good evening Laura Anthony and welcome to Tarot DMs! Apologies for the late start. I am more crumble than man. I have just been feasting upon an autumnal dessert of apples and blackberries and crumble and custard and I can barely move. Plus I have a cat walking across my keyboard. Excuse me, Beigli, could you not drink my water thank you… How are you doing?
22/10/2025, 20:34 - Anthony:
Good evening to you too, Crumble! That sounds delicious. I’m glad you’ve had a good evening. I’m doing good, thank you. I also have a cat bothering me as it’s currently 25 minutes until his dinner time, so you may hear some additional sound effects.
I’m having a pretty good evening. It was lovely and crisp today. There was definitely autumnal vibes in the air.
22/10/2025, 20:35 - Finbarre: *listening out for the plaintive mews*
22/10/2025, 20:36 - Finbarre: My little ginger nonsense has been snoozing on my laptop, until now, for twelve hours straight so he may have just enough energy to make it across the bedroom and recuperate by sleeping on my bed instead.
22/10/2025, 20:37 - Anthony:
Here’s mine, currently giving very intense eye contact
22/10/2025, 20:38 - Finbarre:
22/10/2025, 20:38 - Anthony: ginger to ginger communication!
22/10/2025, 20:40 - Finbarre: Yours is doing the same eye thing as Puss In Boots from Shrek I see! Right, moving on from our respective familiars... to the tarot - remind me. What experience do you have with the cards?
22/10/2025, 20:42 - Anthony: I’m a little rusty with the meanings, if not the imagery—I used to give myself readings with the major arcana when i was young, following along with a book in one hand. but the minor arcana are more of a mystery to me!
22/10/2025, 20:45 - Finbarre: We’ll start with your first and this one is from The Idle Hands tarot - seemed to be a good choice for Devil Season, with a bonus infernal background too! Actually it’s a silk scarf from a vintage shop in Sheffield but don’t tell anyone. If anyone is curious about this design, you can find the cards here: https://www.instagram.com/idlehandstarot/?hl=en
22/10/2025, 20:45 - Finbarre:
22/10/2025, 20:46 - Finbarre: A sinister little scamp, there. What vibes do you get from that card?
22/10/2025, 20:49 - Anthony: oh, what a beautiful deck!! wondering woodcut/etching vibes. the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge has a room that’s dedicated solely to a collection of etchings by one particular artist—I’ll have to find his name
22/10/2025, 20:50 - Anthony: there’s a similar texture here, if much darker and a little more threatening… the devils very much in silhouette here, isn’t he?
22/10/2025, 20:51 - Anthony: Albrecht Dürer! That’s the artist at the Fitzwilliam
22/10/2025, 20:53 - Anthony:
22/10/2025, 20:54 - Finbarre:
Either fools seldom differ or great minds think alike. That’s exactly the picture I was racing to send to you. It is really quite unsettling. It’s eerie, it’s grotesque, it’s rather knobbly, and it is so well done. That’s an incredible picture, and I haven’t heard of that artist, but I will be looking them up.
22/10/2025, 20:56 - Finbarre:
Yes, that stark black and white devil card that you have there isn’t one that whispers and binds and seduces. It’s one that probably compels in all bold caps.
It also represents a situation where you know you’re stuck, you can’t look away. It’s an unstoppable desire that asks what you crave and what’s the cost of it. I think that’s what the card means. Right, your question.
22/10/2025, 20:56 - Finbarre:
I’m going to go with a difficult one. What was the last creative compromise you were tempted to make?
22/10/2025, 20:59 - Anthony:
Hmm. You say this is a tricky one, but honestly, like I find creativity is full of compromises. I mean, some of them are good and some of them are bad.
Like my day to day work is a constant push and pull of where I want things to be versus what’s practical for who I’m working for. You know, as a graphic designer, I’m talking about here, you know, what things need to say in the most effective way. It’s all a dialogue and a set of compromises.
But when I’m not talking about work, a lot of my creative compromises will be in terms of what’s possible for me on that particular day. Like my ambition versus my energy, my circumstances, the materials I have to hand and all that kind of stuff.
Like I can have the most grandiose and like, you know, excited ideas in my head. But in the end, like the things that are best are the things that you can physically create or, you know, that you have the energy to make in a lot of ways.
You know, something made is often better than something dreamt or like imagined, but never realised and compromise is part of that, I think.
22/10/2025, 21:02 - Finbarre: I know that here and there you work on your own artistic projects, where energy outside of your day job allows and some of them have a tarot theme, or share similar symbolism. Do you have any images that you could share here?
22/10/2025, 21:03 - Anthony: of course!
22/10/2025, 21:03 - Anthony:
22/10/2025, 21:05 - Anthony: I’ve been creating a set of works that are intended to be my own personal arcana, with imagery and symbolism that relate specifically to my own experiences. In a way, it’s using the visual language of tarot to explore myself
22/10/2025, 21:06 - Finbarre: There is something in the vibrancy of the colour that reminds me of the railway posters you would see in the early 1900s. Don’t fancy a trip to Fog though.
22/10/2025, 21:07 - Finbarre: Where does the inspiration for the cards come from, do you have a design in mind or do your hands start moving and with a “ta-da!” you have a picture?
22/10/2025, 21:08 - Anthony: Ha! Me neither—Fog was very much me exploring fatigue, burnout, exhaustion, things that make me fuzzy around the edges
22/10/2025, 21:11 - Anthony: The ones I have designed so far have come to me very rapidly. I’m almost letting them guide me, in a way—I want these to resonate with me strongly, to not feel contrived, so when an image and a word comes to me I hold onto that and bring it to life as soon as I can
22/10/2025, 21:11 - Finbarre:
That’s the style I was thinking of. Brighton too!
22/10/2025, 21:12 - Anthony: Yes! There’s something of that vibrancy in the traditional Rider Waite Smith too
22/10/2025, 21:14 - Finbarre: You have the chance for one of these dark and spooky cards to guide us today (quite the contrast to yours!) in just a moment. When you’re ready say or type “stop” and I’ll deal out your choice. This first card, The Devil, was our “Anchor card”. This one now of course is our “Wild card”.
22/10/2025, 21:14 - Anthony:
Stop!
22/10/2025, 21:15 - Finbarre:
22/10/2025, 21:16 - Finbarre: A rather sombre Wheel of Fortune there
22/10/2025, 21:16 - Anthony: oh! my favourite!!
22/10/2025, 21:16 - Finbarre: Excellent! What is it that appeals about this one?
22/10/2025, 21:18 - Anthony: Its cyclical nature is comforting to me. There’s a bit in the film 24 Hour Party People where someone shouts about history being a wheel — “Mutability is our tragedy, but it’s also our hope. The worst of times, like the best, are always passing away”
22/10/2025, 21:20 - Finbarre:
Oh my goodness, 24 Hour Party People was a film that I was a film extra in in 2002, 2001, something like that, in my brief stint of fame. I think I was dancing around in the Hacienda just before it was demolished, if I remember that right.
Yeah, the Wheel of Fortune speaks of cycles and fates and mysterious workings of the universe, often heralds things like a stroke of luck or a turning point.
It’s one of those cards that invites you to be open, adaptable, just get ready to roll with it, so to speak.
22/10/2025, 21:21 - Finbarre:
For the Wheel of Fortune, I’d like to know how serendipity has played a role in your career path.
22/10/2025, 21:22 - Anthony:
I mean, that’s serendipitous right there. You were an extra. That’s amazing. I used to go past the hacienda all the time on the bus. I used to spend a lot of time in Manchester, much later than that. They’re all flats now. The whole building is all flats as far as I’m aware.
22/10/2025, 21:23 - Finbarre:
On reflection I’m remembering that wrong because I’ve spent so many nights in the Hacienda and also The Paradise Factory… Manchester in the 90s was a wonderful place to be but so much of it is a blur! No i think when we were actually filming it was in a mock-up of the Hacienda in a factory or some kind of industrial unit and I mean they did a very good job but of course you had to do that thing of basically dancing to no music and saying “Rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb” to the person next to you in the way that film extras do.
22/10/2025, 21:26 - Anthony: in terms of my career and my creativity, that’s a really good question! i’m a worrier and a planner which makes my enjoyment of this card a little ironic. but one of my very first jobs was illustrating gig posters for Drowned in Sound for their shows in Sheffield, and that came about through a chance meeting with a friend—and through that one link I probably forged the entire rest of my career
22/10/2025, 21:26 - Finbarre: I was going to add that the site is hallowed ground, but is probably the opposite. Needed an exorcism and a pack of sniffer dogs to make the place habitable.
22/10/2025, 21:27 - Finbarre:
A chance encounter sounds VERY Wheel of Fortune. Could you tell me about that?
22/10/2025, 21:27 - Anthony
: oh, there’s another nice serendipity story, one moment!
22/10/2025, 21:28 - Anthony:
So the other story I just thought of was a few years ago… this I think this was 2019? I was very burnt out creatively, was very drained very tired needed a break. I took myself away to Seville in Spain for the very first time I had never been to mainland Spain before but I’d always quite liked the sound of Seville since I’d seen it in my Spanish textbooks when I was a kid. So anyway took myself there and everything about it completely rejuvenated my soul. Just the colors there the quality of the light the 20 degree heat in the middle of winter it was definitely a bonus! The smell of the orange trees as you went past them everything about that colour. I went to, they have a museum of contemporary Andalusian art there, and there was an exhibition for an artist called Alfonso Albacete and had never heard of him before I just wandered into this retrospective of his work and again was completely blown away it was just like I was in the right place in the right time seeing the right kind of art and it got me painting again. It was incredible.
22/10/2025, 21:31 - Finbarre: Sounds like a holiday for the soul!
22/10/2025, 21:32 - Anthony:
22/10/2025, 21:32 - Anthony: this is my favourite painting of Alfonso Albacete’s, it’s called Estancia.
22/10/2025, 21:32 - Anthony: The light passing through the dust and debris is incredible
22/10/2025, 21:34 - Finbarre: I both adore and abhor that. The light is stunning, even this image on my screen gives the impression of a balmy glow but the angles and unreality of the perspective spins my head. Less of a painting and more of a portal.
22/10/2025, 21:34 - Anthony: Right! There’s a void
22/10/2025, 21:35 - Finbarre: I would have tried step right in there and steal one of those fluttering rectangles. Probably shouldn’t mention that, given the recent happenings at the Louvre 😉
22/10/2025, 21:36 - Finbarre: Moving swiftly onward to your last card that was chosen by the writer, poet and student of wonder S.E. Reid. You have been given as your “Gift card”
22/10/2025, 21:36 - Finbarre: This one:
22/10/2025, 21:37 - Finbarre: The Nine of Pentacles
22/10/2025, 21:37 - Anthony: delighted by the hooded hawk at the top of this card
22/10/2025, 21:38 - Anthony:
It can be friends with my design!
22/10/2025, 21:39 - Finbarre:
I see that wonderful image of flying free in the captive and it does make me glad that I’m wearing a pair of glasses because I know it’s this exaltation of freedom that the bird ascends into the great blue yonder. But it also looks like it’s going straight for my eyes. There is a certain menace to that bird.
22/10/2025, 21:39 - Finbarre:
Of course, the Nine of Pentacles and the Rider-Waite Smith depicts a solitary figure in a lush garden, and it’s often a card of material security, and also the grace of enjoying one’s own company as well. And that you’re the architect of your own environment. But it’s not just about the luxury of what you own, but also how fully you can appreciate it.
22/10/2025, 21:40 - Anthony: Ha, maybe! It could be flying free or going for the face
22/10/2025, 21:42 - Anthony:
That’s really interesting about it being that enjoyment of what you have and the appreciation of material things… or it is not just material but I guess like you know just the thing, the life that you’ve created for yourself. I think it’s very easy to be constantly striving for more and something I’m trying to do a lot less of is aim for if I just do this then I’ll finally be the person I need to be or if I just achieve this thing I’ll finally be the Laura Anthony I’m supposed to be if I finally buy this thing, I’ll get there. I’m trying to be more kind of… there’s not actually a set number of steps. There’s no end level, there’s no finish line (except, you know, the very end of the finish line!) and so taking that and step to go “Okay what have you done now?” “What have you got now?” “What’s making you happy now?” feels like a really important thing.
22/10/2025, 21:45 - Finbarre:
In that, the Nine of Pentacles asks you, in your daily practice, what feels like a luxury you’ve earned.
22/10/2025, 21:46 - Anthony: Oooh, that’s an interesting question and I like that you said “earned”
22/10/2025, 21:49 - Anthony: In terms of my creative practice, i think there’s a luxury in having confidence with your materials and your artistic approach… i’m certainly not an expert, and i’m always looking to improve, but the luxury of time has given me the confidence to be like “yeah, i know how to use these things, i know how to draw the things i want to draw, i have practiced and learned and evolved enough to be able to achieve something i’m proud of”
22/10/2025, 21:49 - Anthony:
Or if we’re talking about material luxury, I’m so glad I have an iPad. That’s my artistic approach come on leaps and bounds. Just being able to sit in front of the telly and draw is amazing.
22/10/2025, 21:52 - Finbarre: My daughter has one of the few Apple devices in the house and when she asked for it I was thinking it would be a hellishly expensive birthday present. The family had a whip round and together we got her one, along with Procreate. You know, I don’t think she has opened another app on that iPad yet, and every night she’s there drawing away. Usually cats, or characters from Undertale but it has been like putting rocket boosters on her creativity.
22/10/2025, 21:54 - Anthony: Procreate is what I use too! It’s a lovely app. I’ve used drawing tablets before but drawing onto an ipad’s screen feels so much more intuitive and natural
22/10/2025, 21:54 - Anthony: I designed all my cards in Procreate before painting them
22/10/2025, 21:55 - Finbarre: Is there a place where you exhibit your art online?
22/10/2025, 21:55 - Anthony: my instagram is the best place to see everything! @l.a.siragher
22/10/2025, 21:56 - Anthony: It’s quite an eclectic mix as my projects evolve, haha
22/10/2025, 21:57 - Finbarre: Fabulous! One last thing before we wrap up today - I ask all of my guests to think of a card for the next person I speak to. Now of course The Devil is spoken for, but if you got to pick another - which card will you pass on?
22/10/2025, 21:58 - Finbarre: Remember, you can be kind 😇 or a meanie 😈
22/10/2025, 21:59 - Anthony: So one of the minor arcana i do know is the Ten of Swords, which i think also has that cyclical nature that Wheel of Fortune does
22/10/2025, 21:59 - Anthony: So could I pick that?
22/10/2025, 22:01 - Finbarre: The Ten of Swords it is! A card that always reminds me of a song by Eels called “The Deconstruction” - that will be a fascinating story to inspire.
22/10/2025, 22:01 - Finbarre: Thank you so much for being on Tarot DMs and for spending your time with me, Laura Anthony! I look forward to seeing the next cards you create.
22/10/2025, 22:01 - Anthony:
You’re very welcome and thank you so much for having me.